At My Mother's Knee...

The hilarious autobiography of one of Britain's best loved entertainers

In his own uniquely acid tongue, Paul O’Grady traces the hilarious tales of life in Irish Catholic Birkenhead that took him from a virtuous altar-boy (“my first drag”) to Britain’s best loved entertainer. It’s a life that includes, varyingly, stints in an abbatoir, as a social worker, in a high-class Mayfair brothel and traipsing down to London to chase his dreams. By 23, Paul O’Grady had been a father, husband, drag queen, gay lover, divorcee and degenerate. He did it all with a smile on his face, making a mental note to register the whip-smart one-liners that would later inform his star-studded path from the fringes of comedy to the heart of the British establishment, first as his own brilliant comic creation Lily Savage, then, triumphantly, as himself. Paul’s remarkable childhood and early life is littered with a dizzying cast-list of rogues, rascals, lovers, fighters, saints and sinners. Oh, and one iconic bus conductress. Told with pathos, love, empathy and, naturally, biting humour the story of Paul O’Grady is that of everyman, everywoman and, inevitably, every drag act, ever. He has been rich and skint, posh and common, straight and gay. He has mixed with stars and whores and all that’s in between, slyly spotting the similarity between them all. His amazing and riveting life story reminds us that there is, when all is said and done, a bit of savage in all of us.

Author Profile

Lily Savage was nominated for a Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1991. Lily later became a regular on This Morning, took over the bed on The Big Breakfast and presented Blankety Blank, but has now retired. Paul, of course, currently presents The New Paul O’Grady Show on Channel 4.

Reviews

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ISBN: 9780593059883
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Until I Find You

A tragic-comic classic from one of the world’s greatest living writers.

Jack Burns’ mother, Alice, is a tattoo artist in search of the boy’s father, William, a virtuoso organist, who has fled America to Europe. To fund her journey, she plies her trade in the seaports of the North Sea as she tracks her four-year-old son’s errant father. But Alice is a mystery, and William can’t be found. And even Jack’s memories are subject to doubt. Jack returns to the United States, and studies in Canada and New England, but his life is still shaped by the events of his childhood quest, in particular his relationships with older women. It is only when he becomes a Hollywood actor that what he has experienced in the past comes into telling play in his present...

Author Profile

JOHN IRVING has won an O. Henry Award, a National Book Award, and an Oscar. Until I Find You is his eleventh novel.

Reviews

John Irving has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger, but is arguably more inventive than either. Wry, laconic, he sketches his characters with an economy that springs from a feeling for words and a mastery of his craft','Irving writes with a lapidary directness that is unsurpassed by any living writer','It is very satisfying to read a book that is hard to put down, and if this were a more valued criterion, Irving would no doubt by now have received the official accolades he deserves','Irving's popularity is not too difficult to understand. His world really is the world according to everyone','A premier storyteller, master of the tragiocomic and among the first rank of contemporary novelists','Irving is peerless at presenting action, writing without a wasted second'

ISBN: 9780552773126
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Imperial Capitals of China, The

A unique history and exploration of China through its imperial capital cities over two millennia

From the First Emperor’s obsessive – and fatal – attempts to engage the Immortals in 219–210 BC, to the striking creativity that produced the golden age of literature and art in Tang Chang’an, to the culmination of architectural virtuosity seen in The Forbidden City of Yong Lee’s Beijing in the fifteenth century, this absorbing new book offers a panoramic sweep of an empire that lasted over two millennia through the imperial cities that were the very foundations of each dynasty. Using original Chinese sources and eye-witness accounts, Arthur Cotterell provides an inside view of the rich array of characters, political and ideological tensions, and technological genius that defined the imperial cities of China, as each in turn is revealed, explored, and celebrated. The oldest continuous civilization in existence today stands to become the most influential, its economy expected to exceed that of the United States by 2020. From the cosmological foundations of the first capital to the politics of empire and cataclysmic civil wars, Imperial Cities of China offers a level of insight indispensable for a true understanding of China today.

Author Profile

Arthur Cotterell was principal of Kingston College. His previous books include The Minoan World, The Penguin Encyclopaedia of Ancient Civilizations, The Pimlico Dictionary of Classical Mythologies: Greece, Rome, Persia, India and China, China: A Cultural History and Chariot: The Astounding Rise and Fall of the World's First War Machine.

Reviews

He handles with grace and skill the challenge of making the country's dynastic past intelligible to the layman.

ISBN: 9781845950101
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Water Room, The

The matchless if cantankerous detective duo of Inspectors Bryant and May investigate murky and murderous goings on beneath London's streets.

Originally built to house the workers of Victorian London, Balaklava Street is now an oasis in the heart of Kentish Town and ripe for gentrification. But then the body of an elderly woman is found at Number 5. Her death would appear to have been peaceful but for the fact that her throat is full of river water. It falls to the Met’s Peculiar Crimes Unit, led by London’s longest-serving detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, to search for something resembling a logical solution. Their initial investigations draw a blank and Bryant’s attention is diverted into strange and arcane new territory, while May finds himself in hot water when he attempts to save the reputation of an academic whose knowledge of the city’s forgotten underground rivers looks set to ruin his career. In the meantime, the new owner of Number 5 is increasingly unsettled by the damp in the basement of her home, the particularly resilient spiders and the ghostly sound of rushing water . . . Pooling their information to investigate hitherto undiscovered secrets of the city, Bryant and May make some sinister connections and realize that, in a London filled with the rich, the poor and the dispossessed, there’s still something a desperate individual is willing to kill for – and kill again to protect. With the PCU facing an uncertain future, the death toll mounts and two of British fiction’s most enigmatic detectives must face madness, greed and revenge, armed only with their wits, their own idiosyncratic practices and a plentiful supply of boiled sweets, in a wickedly sinuous mystery that goes to the heart of every London home.

Author Biography
Christopher Fowler is the acclaimed author of eleven novels, including Roofworld, Spanky, Psychoville and Soho Black, and nine collections of short stories including City Jitters, Sharper Knives, Uncut, The Devil in Me and Demonized. He is a director of the film-marketing company Creative Partnership and lives in London with an incredibly unmotivated cat. The Water Room is the second Bryant & May mystery, the first, Full Dark House, is also published by Bantam Books and the new Bryant & May mystery, Seventy Seven Clocks, is now available from Doubleday. www.booksattransworld.co.uk

Reviews
Atmospheric, hugely beguiling and as filled with tricks and sleights of hand as a magician’s sleeve...this is English gothic at its eccentric best; a combination of Ealing comedy and grand opera: witty, charismatic, occasionally touching and with a genuine power to thrill','An evocatively reverential tribute to the genre...the clash of temperaments between Bryant and May makes them great detectives','The striking gothic setting of London under fire proves fruitful ground for a bizarre dark comedy of an investigation...bawdy, unpredictable and at times hilarious, with a cast of wonderful grotesques',‘A writer of extraordinary imagination’,‘Very cleverly plotted…simultaneously scary and alluring’ ,‘Wartime London is conjured up with unique skill…Fowler’s powers of description are enviable’,‘An evocatively reverential tribute to the genre…the clash of temperaments between Bryant and May makes them great detectives’,‘Very fine writing, a lot of atmosphere, and a great deal of irresistible London arcana’,‘The second in his new series of long-awaited Bryant and May mysteries. From the time I first encountered these two characters in a short story in City Jitters, I’ve wanted Fowler to do precisely what he’s doing now. That would be long, complex and very funny detective novels about the exploits of London’s PCU – the Peculiar Crimes Unit’,‘Bryant and May are engaging characters and I look forward to their next outing’

ISBN: 9780553815535
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How to Lose Friends and Alienate People: A Memoir

With a major motion picture of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People about to be released (starring Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, and Jeff Bridges), there has never been a better time to savor this laugh-out-loud memoir from everyone’s favorite “professional failurist.” In his dishy assault on New York’s A-list, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Toby Young lands a job at Vanity Fair-and proceeds to work his way down Manhattan’s food chain.

ISBN: 9780306816130
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Summer of the Midnight Sun (Alaskan Quest #1)

The Barringer family is happy in the Alaskan Territory. Confronted by an old flame, Leah realizes her feelings never went away and she is whisked away on an unforgettable journey

ISBN: 9780764227738
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Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North

A northerner in exile, stateless and confused, hearing rumors of Harvey Nichols in Leeds and Maseratis in Wilmslow, the author goes in search of The North. Delving into his own past, it is a riotously funny journey in search of where the cliches end and the truth begins. He travels from Wigan Pier to Blackpool Tower, the Bigg Market in Newcastle to the daffodil-laden Lake District in search of his own Northern Soul, encountering along the way an exotic cast of characters while he battles with his own identity.

ISBN: 9780091910228
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The Mitford Girls

'I am normal, my wife is normal, but my daughters are each more foolish than the other' bewailed Lord Redesdale, father of the Mitford girls. Even if the six daughters, born between 1904 and 1920, of the charming, eccentric David, Lord Redesdale and his wife Sydney had been quite ordinary women, the span of their lives - encompassing the most traumatic century in Britain's history - and the status to which they were born, would have made their story a fascinating one. But Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo, 'the mad, mad Mitfords' were, and are, far from ordinary.

ISBN: 9780349115054
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The Devil's Teeth: A True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks

A journalist's obsession brings her to a remote island off the California coast, home to the world's most mysterious and fearsome predators-and the strange band of surfer-scientists who follow themSusan Casey was in her living room when she first saw the great white sharks of the Farallon Islands, their dark fins swirling around a small motorboat in a documentary. These sharks were the alphas among alphas, some longer than twenty feet, and there were too many to count; even more incredible, this congregation was taking place just twenty-seven miles off the coast of San Francisco.In a matter of months, Casey was being hoisted out of the early-winter swells on a crane, up a cliff face to the barren surface of Southeast Farallon Island-dubbed by sailors in the 1850s the "devil's teeth." There she joined Scot Anderson and Peter Pyle, the two biologists who bunk down during shark season each fall in the island's one habitable building, a haunted, 135-year-old house spackled with lichen and gull guano. Two days later, she got her first glimpse of the famous, terrifying jaws up close and she was instantly hooked; her fascination soon yielded to obsession-and an invitation to return for a full season. But as Casey readied herself for the eight-week stint, she had no way of preparing for what she would find among the dangerous, forgotten islands that have banished every campaign for civilization in the past two hundred years. The Devil's Teeth is a vivid dispatch from an otherworldly outpost, a story of crossing the boundary between society and an untamed place where humans are neither wanted nor needed. Susan Casey is the development editor of Time Inc. She was previously the editor in chief of Sports Illustrated Women and an editor at large for Time Inc.'s 180 magazine titles. She also served as the creative director of Outside magazine where, with editor Mark Bryant, she led the magazine to three consecutive, history-making National Magazine Awards for General Excellence. At Outside she was part of the editorial team that developed the stories behind Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm. Her writing has appeared in Esquire, Time, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. She lives in New York City. Since Jaws scared a nation of moviegoers out of the water three decades ago, great white sharks have attained a mythic status as the most frightening and mysterious monsters to still live among us. Each fall, just twenty-seven miles off the San Francisco coast, in the waters surrounding a desolate rocky island chain, the world's largest congregation of these fearsome predators gathers to feed. Journalist Susan Casey first saw the great whites of the Farallones in a television documentary. Within months, she was sitting with two shark scientists in a small motorboat as the sharks—some as long as twenty feet, as wide as a semitrailer—circled around them. From this first encounter, Casey became obsessed with these awe-inspiring creatures, and a plan was hatched for her to join the scientists and follow their research. The Devil's Teeth is the riveting account of that one fateful shark season. "Indulges in just the right mix of anxiety, gore and reassuring shark science. One can find reason to fear the waves and then muster the courage to enter them, usually within the same chapter."—The New York Times Book Review "Indulges in just the right mix of anxiety, gore and reassuring shark science. One can find reason to fear the waves and then muster the courage to enter them, usually within the same chapter."—The New York Times Book Review "Chilling . . . A lively and detailed account."—USA Today"[A] page-turner . . . The book gives you a way of reaching these mysterious isles without getting wet."—San Francisco Chronicle"The adventure story guaranteed to scare people right out of the water."—The Associated Press  "The Devil's Teeth is more than shark story: it is an account of our instincts, out appetites, even out futures, all beautifully told by a writer compelled to know."—Robert Kurson, author of Shadow Divers  "Casey delivers amazing details . . . The Devil’s Teeth will surely satisfy your appetite for all things fanged and finned."—National Geographic Adventure“While The Devil’s Teeth has the hallmarks of a summer potboiler—enormous carnivores, fierce storms, last-minute hair-raising escapes—it is much more, because throughout the book runs a steady stream of scientific discovery.”—The Explorers Journal"Each September a group of great white sharks gathers off Farallon Islands—a 211-acre, 10-island archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, 27 miles off San Francisco—and remains there for about three months. For 15 years, biologists Scot Anderson and Peter Pyle have studied them and concluded that the same sharks return to the same location each year. These islands—protected as a national wildlife refuge—are the only place where it's possible to study their behavior naturally in the wild. Anderson and Pyle can recognize each shark and have named them; there's Betty and Mama, Spotty and T-Nose, among others. Casey, a development editor at Time Inc., joined the biologists for eight weeks to gather material for the book, which has 16 pages of color photographs. The result is a detailed and absorbing account of these awesome creatures."—George Cohen, Booklist "From its startling opening description of scientists racing to the bloody scene where a shark has decapitated a seal, this memoir–cum–natural and cultural history of the Farallon Islands—'the spookiest, wildest place on Earth'—plunges readers into the thrills of shark watching. Casey, a sportswriter with recurring dreams about deep-sea creatures, 'became haunted' by the 211-acre archipelago 27 miles west of San Francisco when she saw a BBC documentary about Peter Pyle and Scot Anderson, biologists who study the great white sharks there. The islands are the only place on Earth where scientists can study the animals in their natural habitat. These evolutionary ancients (sharks lived 200 million years before dinosaurs) can be as large as Mack trucks, eat suits of armor, are both fierce and friendly, and, according to Casey, are an addictive fascination for those lucky enough to encounter them. Casey's three-week solo stay on a yacht anchored in shark waters is itself an adventure, with the author evacuating just hours before the yacht disappeared in a storm. Her suspenseful narrative perfectly matches the drama and mystery of these islands, their resident sharks and the scientists who love them."—Publishers Weekly

ISBN: 9780805080117
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The dream

“Dreams played an important part in our lives in those early days in England. Our mother invented them for us to make up for all the things we lacked and to give us some hope for the future.”During the hard and bitter years of his youth in England, Harry Bernstein’s selfless mother struggles to keep her six children fed and clothed. But she never stops dreaming of a better life in America, no matter how unlikely. Then, one miraculous day when Harry is twelve years old, steamships tickets arrive in the mail, sent by an anonymous benefactor.Suddenly, a new life full of the promise of prosperity seems possible–and the family sets sail for America, meeting relatives in Chicago. Harry is mesmerized by the city: the cars, the skyscrapers, and the gorgeous vistas of Lake Michigan. For a time, the family gets a taste of the good life: electric lights, a bathtub, a telephone. But soon the harsh realities of the Great Depression envelop them. Skeletons in the family closet come to light, mafiosi darken their doorstep, family members are lost, and dreams are shattered.In the face of so much loss, Harry and his mother must make a fateful decision–one that will change their lives forever. And though he has struggled for so long, there is an incredible bounty waiting for Harry in New York: his future wife, Ruby. It is their romance that will finally bring the peace and happiness that Harry’s mother always dreamed was possible.With a compelling cast and evocative settings, Harry Bernstein’s extraordinary account of his hardscrabble youth in Depression-era Chicago and New York will grip you from the very first page. Full of humor, drama, and romance, this tale of hope and dreams coming true enthralls and enchants.

ISBN: 9780345503749
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A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures

Born with a hole in his heart that required invasive surgery when he was only three months old, Quinn Bradlee suffered from a battery of illnesses—seizures, migraines, fevers—from an early age. But it wasn’t until he was fourteen that Bradlee was correctly diagnosed with Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome (VCFS), a widespread, little-understood disorder that is expressed through a wide range of physical ailments and learning disabilities.Ten percent of the population is affected by a learning disability, but few of us understand what being learning disabled (LD) is really like. In this funny, moving, and often irreverent book, Bradlee tells his own inspirational story of growing up as an LD kid—and of doing so as the child of larger-than-life, formidably accomplished parents: long-time Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee and bestselling author Sally Quinn. From his difficulties reading social cues, to his cringe-worthy loss of sexual innocence, Bradlee describes the challenges and joys of living “a different life” with disarming candor and humor. By the end of A Different Life he will have become, if not your best friend, one of your favorite people.

ISBN: 9781586481896
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Psychic Children: Revealing the Intuitive Gifts and Hidden Abilities of Boys and Girls

The respected, world-renowned New York Timesbestselling psychic takes on an intriguing new subjectthe psychic abilities of children. Sylvia Browne shares profound stories of how children can be channels to the Other Side.A childs world is comprised of extraordinary thingsvivid imaginations, imaginary friends, Zen-like nadveté, and a heightened sense of good and evil. In fact, it is now in vogue to proclaim that certain children are a direct channel to God, calling them Indigo Children or Crystal Children. But psychic Sylvia Browne knows these are merely fashionable labels. She recognizes that allchildren have unusual psychic gifts and abilitiesincluding each one of usbut society has been conflicted about those gifts, at times cherishing them and often stifling them over the centuries.Sylvia Browne writes from personal experience. After her own psychic abilities were revealed at age three, her mother tolerated but never encouraged her startling talent. Brownes own son would exhibit psychic abilities of his own as a toddler, which she fully embraced and supported. What Browne has learned over a lifetime is that psychic gifts are present at incredibly tender ages; they are, in her view, special blessings from God. Some children learn to develop them while others are pressed to ignore them. In Psychic Childrenshe illuminates the phenomenon, issuing a call to society for more understanding and acceptance of these remarkable children.

ISBN: 9780525950134
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The Grassfire Effect: How One Small Spark Can Change Your World

Shows readers how to apply the grassfire effect to their own lives and release those "sparks" of ideas that can change their world.

ISBN: 9780805440379
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The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory

On April 19, 1995 the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City shook the nation, destroying our complacent sense of safety and sending a community into a tailspin of shock, grief, and bewilderment. Almost as difficult as the bombing itself has been the aftermath, its legacy for Oklahoma City and for the nation, and the struggle to recover from this unprecedented attack. In The Unfinished Bombing, Edward T. Linenthal explores the many ways Oklahomans and other Americans have tried to grapple with this catastrophe. Working with exclusive access to materials gathered by the Oklahoma City National Memorial Archive and drawing from over 150 personal interviews with family members of those murdered, survivors, rescuers, and many others, Linenthal looks at how the bombing threatened cherished ideas about American innocence, sparked national debate on how to respond to terrorism at home and abroad, and engendered a new "bereaved community" in Oklahoma City itself. Linenthal examines how different stories about the bombing were told through positive narratives of civic renewal and of religious redemption and more negative narratives of toxicity and trauma. He writes about the extraordinary bonds of affection that were created in the wake of the bombing, acts of kindness, empathy, and compassion that existed alongside the toxic legacy of the event. The Unfinished Bombing offers a compelling look at both the individual and the larger cultural consequences of one of the most searing events in recent American history.

ISBN: 9780195136722
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Original Sin

Forced out of retirement when her old nemesis, a notorious illegal arms dealer, returns, Lucy Hamilton, who was once a spy for the United States Agency for Weapons of Mass Destruction--a career no one knows about, not even her adoring husband--must fight to save both her family and the world.

ISBN: 9781401324216
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Fusiliers: The Saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution

The American Revolution from a unique perspective--as seen through the eyes of a redcoat regiment. From Lexington Green in 1775 to Yorktown in 1781, one British regiment marched thousands of miles and fought a dozen battles to uphold British rule in America: the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Their story, and that of all the soldiers England sent across the Atlantic, is one of the few untold sagas of the American Revolution, one that sheds light on the war itself and offers surprising, at times unsettling, insights into the way the war was conducted on both sides.  Drawing on a wealth of previously unused primary accounts, and with compelling narrative flair, Mark Urban reveals the inner life of the 23rd Regiment, the Fusiliers—and through it, of the British army as a whole—as it fought one of the pivotal campaigns of world history. Describing how British troops adopted new tactics and promoted new leaders, Urban shows how the foundations were laid for the redcoats’ subsequent heroic performance against Napoleon. Fighting the climactic battles of the Revolution in the American south, the Fusiliers became one of the crack regiments of the army, never believing themselves to have been defeated. But the letters from members of the 23rd and other archival accounts reveal much more than battle details. Living the Revolution day-to-day, the Fusiliers witnessed acts of kindness and atrocity on both sides unrecorded in histories of the war. Their observations bring the conflict down to human scale and provide a unique insight into soldiering in the late eighteenth century. Fusiliers will challenge the prevailing stereotypes of the enemy redcoats and offer an invaluable new perspective on a defining period in American history.

ISBN: 9780802716477
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Nature of the Beast, The

Douglas Petty is a man who enjoys his reputation as an unreconstructed male with a penchant for too much wine and too many women. Inheriting his father's eccentric estate and dog sanctuary quietened him a little, and marriage to Amy a little more. Even so, it seemed out of character for him a sue a tabloid newspaper for libel when it printed a scurrilous story about him. His lawyers told him he had a good chance of winning the case, mainly because Amy's testimony would clearly refute the story. But then Amy is involved in a horrendous train crash and while the authorities assume she died in the resulting fire, there is no body to prove it. And if she wasn't killed why has she disappeared and, with no money and no other family, where is she? In a story of mesmerising suspense, Amy slowly reveals why she cannot return to her beloved home, and why she can never escape from the lies she was told as a child.

ISBN: 9780316857451
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A Rush Of Blood

A complex tale of deception and revenge leads Skinner and his people to a bloody encounter and a dramatic confrontation... The horrific suicide of a successful Lithuanian entrepreneur rouses suspicion amongst the newly appointed Chief Constable Bob Skinner and his colleagues. They've crossed swords with the businessman before; why would a man with everything to live for take his own life? As enquiries begin, a mystery girl, drugged and incoherent, is dumped in a health centre by a mysterious Galahad, who promptly disappears. Who is she, who is he, and where has he gone? Is it coincidence that most of the massage parlours in the city have suddenly closed overnight?

ISBN: 9780755329199
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Bullying at Work: How to Confront and Overcome It

Through personal accounts and revelations, this book explores bullying at work and offers solutions to help overcome this stressful, often isolating experience facing many women and men. Based on three years of research, Andrea Adams plots the destructive forces currently eroding the professional lives of many people. By tracing the psychological origins of bullying at work this book investigates the effect of past relationships on the present, providing both individuals and organizations with a deeper understanding of why things can go so badly wrong. Through advice and guidance, it offers a way forward for all those who value the need for psychological well-being at the workplace.

ISBN: 9781853815423
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The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice (P.S.)

Everything you never knew about sushi—its surprising origins, the colorful lives of its chefs, and the bizarre behavior of the creatures that compose it Trevor Corson takes us behind the scenes at America's first sushi-chef training academy, as eager novices strive to master the elusive art of cooking without cooking. He delves into the biology and natural history of the edible creatures of the sea, and tells the fascinating story of an Indo-Chinese meal reinvented in nineteenth-century Tokyo as a cheap fast food. He reveals the pioneers who brought sushi to the United States and explores how this unlikely meal is exploding into the American heartland just as the long-term future of sushi may be unraveling. The Story of Sushi is at once a compelling tale of human determination and a delectable smorgasbord of surprising food science, intrepid reporting, and provocative cultural history.

ISBN: 9780060883515
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A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza De Vaca

In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the three hundred men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived--three Spaniards and an African slave. This tiny band endured a horrific march through Florida, a harrowing raft passage across the Louisiana coast, and years of enslavement in the American Southwest. They journeyed for almost ten years in search of the Pacific Ocean that would guide them home, and they were forever changed by their experience. The men lived with a variety of nomadic Indians and learned several indigenous languages. They saw lands, peoples, plants, and animals that no outsider had ever seen before. In this enthralling tale of four castaways wandering in an unknown land, Andres Resendez brings to life the vast, dynamic world of North America just a few years before European settlers would transform it forever.

ISBN: 9780465068418
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Executive Teams (Jossey Bass Business and Management Series)

For some time now, the business world has witnessed the emergence of the executive team as a defining force in modern corporate governance. Indeed, as the challenges of corporate stewardship become increasingly diverse and complex, more and more CEOs are opting for the advantages a team-supported approach to organizational leadership holds over more traditional models. But what many CEOs and even team members themselves may not realize is that the effectiveness of executive teams hinges on a solid understanding of what they are and of what it takes to lead them. Based on the collective experience of the renowned Delta Consulting Group--experience spanning some fifteen years--Executive Teams is a powerful resource change agents can use to create and maintain senior teams that work. It draws upon change initiatives undertaken at Xerox, Corning, Lucent Technologies, Chase Manhattan Bank and other firms to demonstrate exactly what executive teams are all about and detail the proficiencies CEOs must master to ensure their success. Moreover, Executive Teams explores the elusive dynamics at play within these groups that, if not properly addressed, can seriously jeopardize a company's well-being. In addition to the broad conceptual framework it provides, Executive Teams offers a wealth of practice-driven insights and concrete suggestions for applying the knowledge its authors gained through their work with more than 130 top organizations. CEOs will discover answers to such critical questions as "What strategies have other CEOs employed to skillfully lead their teams?" and "How should individual roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships be defined?" Team members will come away with specific ideas for implementing strategy, leading transformations, changing organizational culture, and achieving other directives within their spheres of influence. In short, the range and depth of professional experience brought to Executive Teams makes it the most comprehensi

ISBN: 9780787910235
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Now, Discover Your Strengths

Introduction: The Strengths Revolution at WorkGuided by the belief that good is the opposite of bad, mankind has for centuries pursued its fixation with fault and failing. Doctors have studied disease in order to learn about health. Psychologists have investigated sadness in order to learn about joy. Therapists have looked into the causes of divorce in order to learn about happy marriage. And in schools and workplaces around the world, each one of us has been encouraged to identify, analyze, and correct our weaknesses in order to become strong.This advice is well intended but misguided. Faults and failings deserve study, but they reveal little about strengths. Strengths have their own patterns.To excel in your chosen field and to find lasting satisfaction in doing so, you will need to understand your unique patterns. You will need to become an expert at finding and describing and applying and practicing and refining your strengths. So as you read this book, shift your focus. Suspend whatever interest you may have in weakness and instead explore the intricate detail of your strengths. Take the StrengthsFinder Profile. Learn its language. Discover the source of your strengths.If by the end of the book you have developed your expertise in what is right about you and your employees, this book will have served its purpose.The Revolution"What are the two assumptions on which great organizations must be built?"We wrote this book to start a revolution, the strengths revolution. At the heart of this revolution is a simple decree: The great organization must not only accommodate the fact that each employee is different, it must capitalize on these differences. It must watch for clues to each employee's natural talents and then position and develop each employee so that his or her talents are transformed into bona fide strengths. By changing the way it selects, measures, develops, and channels the careers of its people, this revolutionary organization must build its entire enterprise around the strengths of each person.And as it does, this revolutionary organization will be positioned to dramatically outperform its peers. In our latest metaanalysis The Gallup Organization asked this question of 198,000 employees working in 7,939 business units within 36 companies: At work do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? We then compared the responses to the performance of the business units and discovered the following: When employees answered "strongly agree" to this question, they were 50 percent more likely to work in business units with lower employee turnover, 38 percent more likely to work in more productive business units, and 44 percent more likely to work in business units with higher customer satisfaction scores. And over time those business units that increased the number of employees who strongly agreed saw comparable increases in productivity, customer loyalty, and employee retention. Whichever way you care to slice the data, the organization whose employees feel that their strengths are used every day is more powerful and more robust.This is very good news for the organization that wants to be on the vanguard of the strengths revolution. Why? Because most organizations remain startlingly inefficient at capitalizing on the strengths of their people. In Gallup's total database we have asked the "opportunity to do what I do best" question of more than 1.7 million employees in 101 companies from 63 countries. What percentage do you think strongly agrees that they have an opportunity to do what they do best every day? What percentage truly feels that their strengths are in play?Twenty percent. Globally, only 20 percent of employees working in the large organizations we surveyed feel that their strengths are in play every day. Most bizarre of all, the longer an employee stays with an organization and the higher he climbs the traditional career ladder, the less likely he is to strongly agree that he is playing to his

ISBN: 9780743201148
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Twilight at Mac's Place

Actor/detective Granville Haynes and his friends from the notorious bar Mac's Place move through a Washington labyrinth of deceit and murder when the memoirs of Granville's CIA father threaten to come to light

ISBN: 9780892962143
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Have Toddler Will Travel

Top travel journalist and mother's guide to having the best, safest and most care-free holiday with your toddler

ISBN: 9780340819968
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Fly Away Home. Jennifer Weiner

Sylvie Woodruff has spent the last 30 or so years being the ideal politician's wife and raising two daughters. When her world crashes down around her after a painful, public betrayal, she retreats to her grandmother's rambling seaside home to wait for the scandal to blow over. Sylvie's eldest daughter, Diana, married out of friendship and respect, not love... then years later, finds herself falling for a most unsuitable man. When the affair ends badly, she sets off in search of a new beginning. Lizzie, Diana's younger sister, who caused her parents such heartache as a teenager, is finally getting her life together. When a summer fling leaves her pregnant, and her charming boyfriend turns violent, she too heads out of town.

ISBN: 9781847370235
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Guerrilla Selling: Unconventional Weapons and Tactics for Increasing Your Sales

Today's increasingly competitive business environment requires new skills and commitment from salespeople. Like the successful Guerrilla Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing Attack, this book presents unconventional ideas that are easy, and exciting for entrepreneurs at every level.

ISBN: 9780395578209
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Perricone Promise

In his previous books, Dr. Nicholas Perricone revealed the secrets to younger-looking skin. However, in order to truly look and feel younger, readers need to know how to preserve the entire body. The Perricone Promise outlines a revolutionary 28-day program to help readers stay young.What's the secret? It's the biggest breakthrough in anti-aging medicine: neuro peptides. These chemicals link the brain to the aging of the body and the skin. The book explains the scientific research behind the miracle of neuro peptides and the exciting results that can be achieved by regulating and controlling these chemicals in the body. Dr. Perricone reveals a structured diet and beauty program to remove wrinkles, dramatically improve the overall health and beauty of the skin, speed up metabolism and weight loss, and enhance mood, brain function and overall health.

ISBN: 9780316729963
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Home Truths

Freya North reunites her popular McCabe girls - sisters Cat, Fen and Pip - in her sexy, funny new novel.Despite their mother having run off with a cowboy from Denver when they were small, and having been brought up in a draughty house in Derbyshire by their eccentric uncle Django, the McCabe girls actually consider themselves very normal and well-adjusted. Pip is stepmother to 10-year-old Tom, Fen has a young baby and Cat has returned to England to start a family. Their mid 30s are promising to be a time of comfort and contentment. However, at their uncle's 70th birthday party, an unexpected guest arrives. Old family secrets are unearthed. Soon new bombshells are dropped. Each sister must confront her own identity crisis and handle the threat this places on relationships. Freya North has written a truthful, funny, sexy tale of mothers, daughters, lovers and liars.

ISBN: 9780007180349
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Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving in

This Video workshop demonstrates how you can transform the process of negotiation from adversarial confrontation into mutual problem solving by learning to negotiate more effectively, create mutually satisfying agreements and build solid relationships which are capable of sustaining differences.

ISBN: 9780712655286
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Saving Caravaggio

Under a searing Calabrian sky, detective Daniel Wright is shown the world’s most famous stolen painting – Caravaggio’s Nativity. As a Caravaggio lover and expert in art recovery, he is determined to rescue it from the mafia bosses who use it as payment for drug deals and assassinations. Risking his marriage, his career and his life, Daniel defies his superiors and goes beyond the law with the help of Uffizi Gallery curator Francesca Natali in a desperate bid to save the Caravaggio before it is lost forever. But will he become the hero of the art establishment, or has he dangerously underestimated its mafia underworld?Saving Caravaggio is a thrilling story of intrigue and personal crusades, that combines the dark atmosphere of Naples with a determined pursuit of passion.

ISBN: 9780670914630
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Beyond toddlerdom

First there was the Toddler Taming phenomenon - now this is the sequel every parent has been waiting for... Dr Christopher Green has written Beyond Toddlerdom for all those parents in need of calm and wise advice on parenting the 5-12 year age group. The 5-12s have to face a number of developmental hurdles. They become aware of the world outside the home. They will start school, make friends, take up hobbies and develop personal interests. They may move house, may live through a parental divorce, and will develop personality patterns that will stay with them for life. It is an important time. Writing with his usual humourous, practical and down-to earth style, Chris Green draws on his many years of expertise as a paediatrician, father and grandfather to enable parents to understand their child's needs and development during their pre-teen years. He takes full account of all the physical, psychological and sociological influences that are of importance during this time - and helps parents to make appropriate decisions about everything from friends to homework, sibling rivalry to positive discipline. Beyond Toddlerdom is the ideal companion to Chris Green's Toddler Taming 'bible' and is a must for every parent.

ISBN: 9780091816247
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The Real Thing

Everyone's got an old boyfriend with whom they never fell out of love. For Putney housewife Tessa Campion it's Patrick, the gorgeous, rebellious boy she met at seventeen: the boy who had left her to go to Italy to paint. And now he's back...

ISBN: 9780747277439
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Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself

Widely acclaimed for its engaging style and provocative perspective, this book has helped thousands transform their working lives. Now the paperback edition features a comprehensive 30-page resource guide that explains the basics of working for oneself.

ISBN: 9780446678797
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East Of The Mountains

Ben Givens, enkemand og pensioneret kirurg, har opdaget, at han vil komme til at dø af cancer. Han rejser tilbage til sin fødeegn, hvor han har til hensigt at tage sit eget liv, men flere uforudsete hændelser kommer til at ændre hans planer.

ISBN: 9780747543688
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The secret river

William Thornhill along with his wife Sal and their children arrive in the harsh land of New South Wales. It is the year 1806 and William has been transported for the term of his natural life. Eight years later William and his family lay claim to a hundred acres up the Hawkesbury. Aboriginal people already live there and other newly arrived settlers are finding their own ways to respond to them. William finds he soon has to make a very difficult choice that will affect his life.

ISBN: 9781921145254
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The Dark Tower Bk6: Songs for Susannah

This a pivotal instalment in the epic saga provides the key to the quest that defines Roland's life. In the next part of their journey to the tower, Roland and his band of followers face adversity from every side: Susannah Dean has been taken over by a demon-mother and uses the power of Black Thirteen to get from the Mid-World New York City. But who is the father of her child? And what role will the Crimson King play? Roland sends Jake to break Susannah's date with destiny, while he himself uses 'the persistence of magic' to get to Maine in the Summer of 1977. It is a terrible world: for one thing it is real and bullets are flying. For another, it is inhabited by the author of a novel called 'SALEM'S LOT. SONG OF SUSANNAH is driven by revelation and by suspense. It continues THE DARK TOWER series seamlessly from WOLVES OF THE CALLA and the dramatic climax will leave readers desperate to read the quest's conclusion.

ISBN: 9780340827192
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Blood Evidence: How DNA is Revolutionizing the Way We Solve Crimes

A startling look at how breakthroughs in DNA testing are having a tumultuous impact on criminal investigations. Written specifically for a lay audience, "Blood Evidence" is the first trade book to explore the complexities of DNA testing and the effect it has had on justice systems worldwide.

ISBN: 9780738206028
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The Vendetta Defence

In The Vendetta Defense, Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of Moment of Truth and Mistaken Identity, tells a wonderfully rich story of past sins, love and justice. Lawyer Judy Carrier takes the case of an elderly pigeon racer, Tony Lucia, who has been arrested for the murder of his lifelong enemy Angelo Coluzzi. "Pigeon Tony," as he's known, confesses to Judy that he killed Coluzzi because of a vendetta begun more than fifty years ago. Her client's guilt, however, is only the beginning of Judy's problems. The Coluzzi family wants revenge, and they are determined to finish off Pigeon Tony and Judy before the case can go to trial.

ISBN: 9780007118458
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Selling The Wheel: Choosing The Best Way To Sell For You Your Company Your Customers

Jeff Cox displayed his remarkable gift for translating complex theories into entertaining stories as the coauthor of Zapp! and The Goal. Now, in collaboration with sales and marketing guru Howard Stevens, CEO of the H. R. Chally Group, he tells a story in the style of an ancient parable to reveal vital lessons gleaned from decades of research on salespeople and customers -- lessons that will help you identify the right way to sell successfully.Selling the Wheel recounts the story of Max, the resourceful fellow who invented the Wheel and found himself faced with the challenge of convincing people to accept his breakthrough innovation. In so doing, it demonstrates four essential selling styles, each requiring a distinctly different type of salesperson and selling approach. As Chally's research clearly shows, no company can be all things to all customers: sales tactics and strategies must change as technologies and markets mature to reflect new values demanded by customers. Written with humor and filled with practical insights, Selling the Wheel will be treasured by managers, salespeople, and entrepreneurs everywhere.

ISBN: 9780684856018
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Cause Celeb

"Cause Celeb" is the story of a disillusioned young woman who escapes London to run a refugee camp in the African desert. When disaster strikes, she brings her former media savvy to the fore to organize a star-studded emergency appeal.

Disillusioned with life as a literary publicist in London and sick of her hotshot TV presenter boyfriend, twenty-something Rosie Richardson decides to give up glitz for good deeds and escape to Africa to run a refugee camp. When famine strikes and a massive refugee influx threatens to overwhelm the camp, officials drag their heels. The only way to get food fast is to bring the celebrities first, so Rosie returns to London to organize a star-studded and risky emergency appeal.

ISBN: 9780330340397
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The Princess Diaries : Take Two

Nothing's simple when you're the new Princess of Genovia. At least, that's what Mia reckons. With her mother dating her Algebra teacher, a secret admirer sending her mysterious e-mails, and a bad case of the hots for her friend Lilly's brother Michael, Mia's discovering that life as Princess Amelia Mignonette Grrmaldi Thermopolis Renaldo can feel like a right-royal muddle!

ISBN: 9780330482066
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3 Zakia Mansion

3, Zakia Mansion is the story of a Mumbai family in the decades following the seventies. The story centres on Shaheen, a daughter who witnesses the slow fraying of the family fabric. Changing times, obsolete attitudes, a life-changing event within the family-all these come together in a cauldron from which Shaheen must leap out.

"Orphaned again and again" as she calls it, by adults who are at best adrift, and at worst cruel, Shaheen struggles to make a different life for herself. But somehow the sums don't add up. She loses what she thought was her new-found stability ? to come to the realization that there are no shortcuts in the process of living the 'life examined'.

Forced to - and then choosing to - abandon her marriage, she struggles to reach out to her daughter from whom she is estranged. In the process, she meets Manas, a young person from a background that is in broad terms similar to hers, but in its essence, very different. Manas is a grounded, lovingly brought up person. He has grown up in a family that has not, like hers, simply lurched along the decades, but has enjoyed the continuity, thoughtfulness and generosity of generations -the recipe that produces contented human beings.

How Shaheen lets go of her past, without losing what is real and precious, and how she weaves a new life, is the story of 3 Zakia Mansion.

ISBN: 9780143104230
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The Girl

On a gloomy November evening in a sleepy village in Goa, it’s time for yet another funeral. The Girl is dead and no one in Azul is surprised. But two men who knew and loved her are achingly curious to discover what made her give up her life to the sea.

As they turn the pages of her diary, a story unravels—of loneliness and abandonment, of memories branded so deep that they return to haunt the soul, and of hope so powerful that it negates reality and opens the doors to a future that is never to be.

ISBN: 9780670058655
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Last Train from Liguria

From the bestselling Irish novelist, here comes a sweeping tale of consequences that spans from the 1930s to the 1990s. "Last Train from Liguria" takes us on a journey from claustrophobic Dublin and the tense formality of London, to the heat and bustle of the pre-war Italian Riviera. This is a must-read for fans of books by Rose Tremain and Helen Dunmore. In 1933, Bella Stuart leaves her quiet London life to move to Italy to tutor the child of a beautiful Jewish heiress and an elderly Italian aristocrat. Living at the family's summer home, Bella's reserve softens as she comes to love her young charge, and find friendship with Maestro Edward, his enigmatic music teacher. But as the decade draws to an end and fascism tightens its grip on Europe, the fact that Alec is Jewish places his life in grave danger. Bella and Edward take the boy on a terrifying train journey out of Italy - one they have no reason to believe any of them will survive...

ISBN: 9781843549888
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Separate Beds

Annie and Tom's marriage is in mid-life crisis. They seem to have everything - a lovely home, rewarding jobs and three healthy grown-up children - but, beneath the surface, all is not well. Beneath the surface lies a secret guilt which ensures that whilst they live under the same roof, they sleep in separate beds.Then, as recession strikes, Tom comes home one evening and drops a bombshell that threatens to destroy everything they have left. Will he and Annie be able to leave the past behind and weather this storm together? Or will it push them further apart. Annie is about to discover that out of disaster springs the faint rays of hope. As her family rallies together, for the first time in years, her home is filled with people, conversation, tears - and laughter. And, little by little, Annie and Tom start to open up to one another about the terrible, painful truth they have lived with all these years.

Soon a new, unexpected future starts to take shape as Annie and Tom are offered a second chance at happiness. But will they take it.



ISBN: 9780141019895
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A Spot of Bother

George Hall doesn't understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. 'The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely.' Some things in life, however, cannot be ignored. At fifty-seven, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his tempestuous daughter, announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased - as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has 'strangler's hands'. Katie can't decide if she loves Ray, or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which get in the way of her quite fulfilling late-life affair with one of her husband's former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind. The way these damaged people fall apart - and come together - as a family is the true subject of Mark Haddon's disturbing yet very funny portrait of a dignified man trying to go insane politely.

ISBN: 9780099506928
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Alphabet Weekends

Love lessons from A - Z A is for Affection -between childhood best friends ; between their parents; between brothers and sisters. B is for Brokenhearted - Natalie when the boyfriend who was meant to propose dumps her just before Christmas. Her mother when she realises what her life has come to. Lucy, as she thinks of ending one relationship, and maybe beginning another. C is for Chemistry - Could Natalie and Tom have it (and what does it actually mean, anyway). Number One bestselling author Elizabeth Noble's new novel is a tender, funny tale about love in all its guises.

ISBN: 9780340838075
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Escape from Shadow Island

Think Alex Rider meets Houdini and you've got Escape from Shadow Island. The first book in a fantastic, fast and furious new action-adventure series.

Max is an ordinary north London schoolboy by day, but at night he performs sell-out public shows as an escapologist – nicknamed The Half-Pint Houdini by the tabloid press. His father, Alexander, was also a world-renowned escapologist, who disappeared two years earlier in the Central American state of Santo Domingo. His body was never found, but Max’s mother, Helen, was convicted of murdering her husband by a Santo Domingan court. One evening, after his show, Max receives a visit from a mysterious man from Santo Domingo. Lopez-Vega tells Max that his mother’s trial was rigged and, if Max comes to his hotel room the following night, he has something to give him. When Max goes to the hotel, he finds Lopez-Vega dead, shot through the head. The room has clearly been searched by the killer, but what was he looking for? By chance, Max finds a piece of paper hidden under Lopez-Vega’s wig. Written on the paper is a sequence of eight numbers - 83521113. What do the numbers mean? Are they a code, or maybe the combination for a lock or a safe? Could they be the key to unlocking the mystery of his father’s disappearance and getting his mother out of prison?

Author Profile

Paul Adam studied law at Nottingham University and started his writing career as a journalist. He has written ten critically-acclaimed thrillers for a grown-up audience that have sold widely around the world and have been translated into several foreign languages. Reviews have called his adult books “brilliantly imagined, fiercely authentic and wholly gripping” . Escape from Shadow Island is Paul's first book for children. He lives with his wife and children in Sheffield.

Reviews

. . . it is written in clear, punchy prose and displays Adam’s talent for tension. It is somewhere that Charlie Higson fans might go next,It's pacy and exciting and very accessible. Fans of high octane adventure are going to enjoy reading about Max Cassidy.,First saga of a new adventure series. Thrilling.

ISBN: 9780552560320
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Bullet Proof

FIVE TOURS OF DUTY. ONE HEROIC ACT. SECONDS FROM DEATH…

AFGHANISTAN, FEBRUARY 2008: in an out-of-control, dangerous country torn apart by war, littered with Taliban guerrilla forces and thousands of miles from home, Lance Corporal Matt Croucher, a Royal Marine with 40 Commando, accidentally activates a grenade whilst on a covert patrol behind enemy lines. With only a split second to react, Croucher’s instincts kick in and he throws himself beside the grenade, reasoning that saving the lives of his three comrades was worth the likelihood of losing his own. Miraculously, and against all the odds, Croucher survived, and mere hours later was taking part in a gun battle against local insurgent fighters, demonstrating a raw, unique courage and devotion to military duty that would later see him awarded the George Cross – a distinction bestowed only on those who perform acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger. Croucher’s George Cross would make him famous around the world. But his story is much more than just one heroic act in isolation. His is a life of bullets, blood and loyalty, and of lives saved and lives taken. From a young marine aged 19, when he was one of the first 200 Allied soldiers to invade Iraq back in 2003 as part of an elite force of British Marines and US Special Forces, through to his second tour of duty in 2004, when he suffered a fractured skull following a roadside bomb attack, only to return to action just a week later, and then being thrust into hellish Afghanistan, Croucher has seen vicious fighting, intense gun battles, roadside ambushes, and witnessed the death and injury of close colleagues on an almost daily basis. This is his incredible story: a searing, vivid, non-stop account of one man’s heroism and courage under fire, in the most gruelling combat environment since the Second World War.

Author Profile

LANCE CORPORAL MATT CROUCHER grew up in the Midlands and joined the Royal Marines aged 16, passing through the legendary 30-week training programme and into 40 Commando despite a series of injuries. He served two tours with the Marines in Iraq before transferring into the Royal Marines Reserves and returning to Iraq as a private security contractor with the United Nations. He re-joined 40 Commando for the ultimate challenge of a tour of duty in war-torn Afghanistan in September 2007.

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ISBN: 9780099543084
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